Mints plan €2 coins for 2013

Some to issue two special coins

Germany, France and Italy are among the nations celebrating historic events, people and places with circulating commemorative €2 coins in 2013. Images courtesy of Berlin State Mint, Monnaie de Paris and the Italian State Mint.

Several European mints have released or announced plans to release
circulating commemorative €2 coins in 2013.

Many mints are exercising their option to issue two circulating
commemorative €2 coins per year (instead of the previous limit of
one), after a change in eurozone regulations that took place last summer.

Among those issuing two coins are Germany, France and Italy. Spain
and Slovenia’s themes and images were already announced (Coin
World, Nov. 19 issue).

Germany, France

Germany continues its annual series honoring the 16 states of the
federal republic with a coin honoring Baden-Württemberg. The series
began in 2006.

Released Feb. 1, the coin depicts the Maulbronn Monastery, a
UNESCO Heritage site that is reportedly the best-preserved medieval
Cistercian monastery complex in Europe. The 2013 coin has a mintage
limit of 30 million pieces and is struck at all five German mint
facilities. Examples bear one of five Mint marks: A, Berlin; D,
Munich; F, Stuttgart; G, Karlsruhe; or J, Hamburg.

That coin followed Germany’s Jan. 22 release of a circulating
commemorative €2 coin in a joint issue with France, itself a
historical event, being the first time two eurozone countries have
issued a coin around the same theme that was not being celebrated
across all 17 Eurozone members. The coins celebrate the 50th
anniversary of the post-World War II Elysee Treaty, or Treaty of Friendship.

The German version is struck at each of the five German mint
facilities and bears one of the five different Mint marks, and the
letter D representing Deutschland. RF appears instead of the D on the
French version to represent Republic Francaise.

Germany’s version has a mintage limit of 11 million pieces.
France’s version of the coin was launched Jan. 21, and has a mintage
of 10 million pieces.

France’s other circulating commemorative €2 coin for 2013 will
celebrate the 150th birth anniversary of Pierre de Coubertin, the
father of the modern Olympics. It will have a mintage limit of 1
million pieces and is due for release June 3.

Italian, Portuguese coins

The Istituto Poligrafico e Zecca dello Stato, or Italian State
Mint, confirmed plans for two commemorative €2 coins in 2013. One coin
will honor the 700th birth anniversary of author and poet Giovanni
Boccaccio, and the other, the 200th birth anniversary of composer
Giuseppe Verdi.

Mintage and release dates are unavailable for the Italian coins.

Portugal has confirmed plans to celebrate the 250 anniversary of
the Torre dos Clérigos tower at the Clérigos Church in Porto,
Portugal. In total, 500,000 €2 coins of Portugal are due for release
in June.

All €2 coins are ringed-bimetallic pieces with a copper-nickel
ring and nickel-brass center. Each weighs 8.5 grams and measures 25.75
millimeters in diameter. ■

The Commission of Fine Artsâ recommendation for the Proof 2014 American Eagle platinum coin, left, brought outrage and derision at the Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee meeting. The CCAC recommended the design to the right.

The Commission of Fine Artsâ recommendation for the Proof 2014 American Eagle platinum coin, left, brought outrage and derision at the Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee meeting. The CCAC recommended the design to the right.

The Commission of Fine Artsâ recommendation for the Proof 2014 American Eagle platinum coin, left, brought outrage and derision at the Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee meeting. The CCAC recommended the design to the right.

The Commission of Fine Artsâ recommendation for the Proof 2014 American Eagle platinum coin, left, brought outrage and derision at the Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee meeting. The CCAC recommended the design to the right.

The Commission of Fine Artsâ recommendation for the Proof 2014 American Eagle platinum coin, left, brought outrage and derision at the Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee meeting. The CCAC recommended the design to the right.